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WWE Live Show Results
May 21, 2016
Albany, N.Y.
Report by Matt Zalucki, PWTorch reader
The crowd was pretty active all night, very engaged. I guess 8,000-10,000 in attendance. The whole bottom section was filled with hardly any empty seats.
(1) Dolph Ziggler beat Bo Dallas. The crowd popped huge for Ziggler. There were a lot of “Let’s Go Ziggler” chants during the match and they popped big after he won. Bo actually received a lot of heat, too. Dolph won with a superkick.
(2) The Shining Stars (Primo & Epico) beat Titus O’Neil & Sin Cara. The Shining Stars cut a promo before the match about visiting Puerto Rico. Sadly and unbelievably the crowd broke into two separate USA chants during this promo. At one point, Primo even said “You realize Puerto Rico is a part of the United States?” They got good heel heat, but the USA chants were as comical as they were real. Titus had a great run after a hot tag, but eventually Shining Stars went over clean after hitting their combo finisher. (Titus took the fall.)
WWE aired a pre-recorded promo from Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows talking about their match against the Usos. They vowed to destroy them. The crowd popped for them during the promo.
(3) Big Cass beat D-Von Dudley (w/Bubba Ray at ringside). Big Cass cut a typical promo, and the crowd was into it. Basic match. Bubba tried to interfere on a few occasions. Finally, Big Cass took him out and hit his finisher to win. Big Cass is very popular here. His pop was around the same as Ziggler (maybe a little less, as Ziggler got a really big pop).
(4) The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) beat The Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows). Really good match, and good build to the finish with both teams getting in good offense. There were a few false finishes, but ultimately Jey rolled up Anderson for the win. After the match, Anderson and Gallows appeared frustrated with each other.
[Intermission]
(5) WWE Women’s champion Charlotte beat Natayla to retain the Women’s Title. Match of the Night. Very good technical wrestling as per usual with these women. Charlotte was the most heavily booed of the night; Nattie was beloved by the crowd and they were into her moves. Charlotte won by rolling her up and using the ropes as leverage to get the pin. The match probably deserved a better finish, but I get the heel tactics.
(6) Sami Zayn beat Heath Slater. Heath cut a promo disparaging Albany, getting some heat. Sami came out to a decent pop. Heath got in more offense than I’d expect for a squash match. Sami hit the big boot in the corner for the victory.
(7) WWE World Hvt. champion Roman Reigns beat Sheamus to retain the WWE World Title. Sheamus cut a really solid promo getting heat saying he’s going to be the new champ. Roman’s music hit and he got the loudest pop of the night. I would say 90-95 percent pro-Roman crowd. It was a little surprising considering all the TV heat he gets, but the crowd was on his side all match. There were several Roman Reigns chants throughout. Sort of a slow build to this one, as Sheamus got in a lot of offense, there were many false finishes, and Reigns kicked out of both of Sheamus’s finishers. Reigns eventually picked up the win with a spear.
Overall, a solid show. Not the biggest names, considering many of my favorites were at the other live show in Pa., but the crowd was larger than I expected and very loud and engaged all night.
Wishing some others were here in NY instead of PA, too, but it was a good night. I didn’t expect such a big crowd either, but we WWE fans were in the building making noise!!!! 🙂